With A Little Luck
Following Air Raid’s landing and subsequent attack on Ratbat, Soundwave headed for Mars, not knowing if his little friend was captured or safe as he descended on the scene just outside the Decepticon base on Mars. Characters Involved: Spectre played by Suburban Wolf '''(Chasm) '''Air Raid played by Suburban Wolf '''(Chasm) '''Ratbat played by Arctic Soundwave played by Leathurkatt Spectre Spectre pulled up to the Decepticon's Mars base, slowing down as he approached. =~"Here we are. Time to disembark."~= The cycle-bot gave his passenger enough time to do so, then transformed into his robot mode, and began unhooking the cables from himself. =~"If you want to do something with the jet, I'd suggest restraining him soon. The toxin is going to wear off in the next few cycles, and he doesn't look happy..."~= 'He removed the cables from Air Raid, as well as the anti-gravity generators. '=~"Also, there's the matter of my payment..."~= Air Raid As if to prove what Spectre had said over his comm to Ratbat, Air Raid was quick to resume his struggles of trying to get up, ignoring the fact that he still could not move his limbs. He glared at the two other mechs, growling. ~"Just wait until I get my hands on you! I'm going to make you regret ever coming near me!"~ He'd try to roll if he could, but he happened to like his wings where they were. Ratbat Ratbat glanced at Spectre, wondering how to handle the irate jet that happened to be a prisoner. He could always just nail him down through the body parts, but that would be too cruel and would just make it so that Air Raid would not want to say anything. So, he settled for not knowing what to do. He went around Air Raid slowly, stopping by his head with an evil smirk. ~"So, what should I do with him? Oh well. So, how much did you say you wanted to be paid?"~ What was there to argue over? Ratbat had already agreed to a price after all. Now all he had to do was figure out what to do with the prisoner. Spectre Spectre shrugged. ~"Stasis cuffs work pretty well."~ He suggested. ~"And either 6,000 units of fuel or 12,000 creds."~ Idly, Spectre pulled out his small pistol, giving it a quick inspection. It was powered down for safety, though he wasn't about to take it apart here. Air Raid Air Raid growled at Ratbat, trying to turn his head and hit or bite the bot. He could feel Fireflight's joy at something, which calmed him a bit. Though, at the mentioning of stasis cuffs, he bristled once more.' ~"I'd like to see you try, runt!"~' He snarled at Ratbat. The jet had figured out that the other mech wasn't a 'Con, and his conversation with Ratbat had only confirmed it. Soundwave Soundwave had heard Ratbat’s emergency signal, then felt the impact on the small bot’s wing through their bond. “Ratbat…” his little friend was in grave danger and Soundwave knew the diminutive spy couldn’t withstand heavy fire. Turning from the satellite network around Earth, he switched to his Jet form and hurtled himself towards Mars. He knew where the base was there, he had set it up long ago, leaving Ratbat there figuring his small companion would be safe there. Apparently he was wrong. By the time Soundwave arrived in Mars’ thin atmosphere, he found his little companion’s signal just outside the Base with two others he didn’t know. Fearing his friend had been captured, he called out to Ratbat internally. //“Ratbat! Deactivate Audio Receptors.”\\ he ordered through the bond, an order Ratbat knew well as the prelude to Soundwave opening up with his Sonic Cannons. Ratbat Not responding to any of them, Ratbat yelped. The only thing he yelped about was what Soundwave had warned him to over the bond. Switching his audios off, Ratbat dove to the side, wings flying up to cover them all the same. The movement jarring the damaged wing, Ratbat whimpered, hoping he was not hit in any of the barrage. A short thought passed him by, knowing that he should have probably warned them all about what was coming, but he didn't. Just because it was habit. Ratbat did however think about one thing. What was going to happen to the others in the area? Soundwave was, admittedly, about to open up pretty much hell upon Air Raid and Spectre, and admittedly, he could have probably prevented it. Oh well, what was done was done. Spectre Spectre's head jerked up when he heard Soundwave's approaching engines, and picked up his signal. His entire frame stiffened in an old reaction to battle, and his optics caught Ratbat diving to the side. The business part of Spectre surfaced with a growl as he backed away. =~"Thinking to back out of your end of the deal, coward?"~= '''He snarled through the comm. With a whir, his warp device began to warm up. =~"See if you ever get any business from us again!"~= A good motivation for a mech not to try to rip of a merc or bounty hunter was the alert that could be put out. Spectre had done that to many a 'Con and 'Bot. Sometimes, they hired each other to go after the mech. His warp device warmed up sufficiently, Spectre folded down into his cycle mode and sped forward, leaving Air Raid to the Decepticons. He'd done his job, and there was still the chance he could collect payment. Besides, freeing the Autobot as revenge was too dangerous for him. His form shimmered and rippled, then disappeared, reappearing approximately 60 meters from his original location, still speeding forward. '''Air Raid Air Raid struggled to move again, and found that very limited movement had returned to his limbs. Most of his movement was in his furthest extremities: his hands and feet. Still, he could slowly move his arms and legs, though it was too slow for him to do anything against Soundwave. ~"Came to save your pet?"~ Air Raid teased, slowly turning himself around. ~"You know, I would've thought they would be smarter, but I guess some things are stronger when they're inherited."~ He smirked, not caring if he ticked Soundwave off more. It wasn't like he could do much else at the moment. Soundwave Soundwave transformed as he descended, opening up with a full power barrage from his sonic cannons at the two larger bots. He landed, standing protectively over Ratbat, glowering at the pair, recognizing the Autobot symbol blazoned on the wing of one of them. He watched the other one retreat, wondering who it was and what side he was on, but for now his primary concern was Ratbat. He kept the intense resonance of his sonic cannons on the Autobot, intending to disable him and keep him on the ground. Ratbat Ratbat peeked out from between his wings. Well, at least people were not being blown up. Yet. Ratbat looked around, and scooted a bit more under Soundwave, wondering whether he was going to have to dodge a few feet. He covered his optics up again, hoping that there would be nothing worse because it would be hard to get out of a large firefight with a damaged wing. He would most likely be crushed if he attempted. Air Raid Air Raid offlined his audio receptors in an attempt to preserve his hearing when Soundwave's Sonic Cannons hit him. The rest of the effects, however, he was unable to stop. With a yell, his entire body began twitching painfully, failing to respond properly to any of his commands. Wing flaps jerked up and down, and his entire frame spasmed and convulsed. //"'Flight!"\\ He reached out through his bond, then quickly retreated back, not wanting to subject any of his brothers to the pain. ~"Grh...That the...gah!....worst you can...ugh....do?"~ Soundwave Soundwave tilted his head curiously for a moment before he casually reached down and gently scooped Ratbat up into his hand, opening a panel in his torso for the tiny bat bot to crawl into. Inside Ratbat could tap into Soundwave’s internal repair systems to expedite healing his damaged wing and any other injuries. Plus, shielded from Soundwave’s sonic cannons, the resonant thrum of Soundwave’s Spark was soothing. The 22 foot tall Decepticon stepped towards Airraid then, focusing his cannons on the Autobot flier. He then extended his cyber tendrils, wrapping them around Airraid and plugging into the bot’s neural core. His intent, to find out who this bot was and his purpose, as well as his connections to other Autobots and who he was to them. Ratbat Feeling himself picked up, Ratbat almost yelped in surprise before he realized who it was. As soon as he was offered the small cavity, Ratbat happily climbed in. //~"Thank you, Sir."~\\ Ratbat allowed his audio receptors to return to their online mode, knowing that soon enough, Soundwave would ask for an explanation. And, Ratbat would happily give the correct one when Soundwave requested, knowing as he did that Soundwave was almost certain to find out by other sources before he could inform him. Air Raid ~"Grah!"~ Air Raid attempted to writhe away from the probing tendrils, even though it was a loosing battle against them and the sonic cannons. He could hear his thoughts filtering through as Soundwave searched. {"Air Raid. Aerialbot. Superion. Scout. Message. Brothers."} Fighting against the invasion, Air Raid completely shuttered his bond, throwing firewalls up around it, trying to protect it from the satellite triple-changer. {"Get out!"} He half-snarled, half-screamed. One of his turbines sputtered on for a moment before shutting down once more, and his wings were burning in protest to the abuse. Soundwave Soundwave chuckled softly as he pursued the clues deeper, seeking the identities of these ‘brothers’. He reached deeper, locating the bond and trying to pry it open. ~“How Many? Designations, Directives, Programming Sets, Functions, Armaments, Capabilities, Locations… Give them to me!”~ he droned in Airraid’s processor core, seeking each tendril of information he could locate and absorb. Through his bond, he spoke softly to Ratbat. //~“Report condition, situation.”~\\ he said gently, more a request than an order Ratbat knew. Soundwave was always good to his companions, treating them well. Each had been bonded to Soundwave upon awakening, allied to the Communications Officer irrevocably before the war had begun. And to a one they would never move against him, he knew. Their loyalty had been carefully cultivated through a bond far stronger than fear or hate, a bond that was as near to brotherhood love as any Decepticon could ever come. Ratbat //~"Condition: Right wing: highly mangled. Situation: I was almost captured before the mercenary that ran off decided to assist me for a sum of one thousand, two hundred credits. He fled, thinking that I had called you to back out of the deal. That is the entire situation, sir."~\\ Ratbat said everything he knew about the deal. Of course, there were the things he did not know, such as what this Autobot did exactly, but he was a flier, and that was enough. Of course, he was highly damaged as a result, but it would heal. Of course, the only sad thing was that he would take a while to do so. That was lost money of course. But, he was reunited with Soundwave, and that possibly meant that his master's plans were coming together soon. Or, they were not and he had dragged Soundwave away from something important. Ratbat resisted shuddering, preferring the former option, or neither of them. Airraid ~"Grrraaaahhhh!!!"~ Air Raid's back arched up slightly, making his fuselage groan. {"Silverbolt, leader, supersonic, electricity absorption and use. Location: unknown. Slingshot, warrior, vertical take-off/landing and hovering capabilities. Location: unknown. Skydive, tactician, inclement weather maneuvering. Location: unknown. Fireflight, scout, supersonic, small radar shape. Location: Earth."} As Soundwave attempted to pry the bond open, Air Raid fought to keep it closed. He began to draw strength from an internal source. {"Superion, warrior, gestalt. Location: Error."} He hoped it was enough. Soundwave Inwardly Soundwave acknowledged Ratbat’s report. //“Rest, recharge, repair.”\\ he offered softly over the bond. He never liked it when his companions were damaged or taken advantage of, not because he would feel their pain, pain was nothing to him, but because he genuinely cared about them. To him, they were as close to children to him as Soundwave had ever had, until Aria was born. He reached further, deeper into Airraid’s net core and his sibling bond, tearing at the walls and defenses one by one. ~“Show me! Give them to me, now!”~ he commanded, reaching, seeking, hunting down as much information on these brothers and their Gestalt. He grinned wickedly at that discovery, an Autobot Gestalt made of five Autobot fliers. Megatron would be salivating at this little tidbit of information. Soundwave frowned then, looking at Airraid for a moment. Autobots protect and even die for their own, something no Decepticon would ever do. Yet Soundwave would do that for his diminutive companions and his daughter. For the thousandth time he wondered if he had chosen to stand on the wrong side. He narrowed his optics then and began to weave a coded subroutine into Airraids subconscious. The programming was not malicious, but would prove useful when the time came. As soon as he finished he let go of Airraid and stepped back. ~“Secrets guarded, kept in trust. Seekers of Light stand with Prime. Silver Shadow: Keeper of Secrets. Trust the Keeper.”~ he offered cryptically in his electronic monotone, then suddenly transformed and took off Earth bound, leaving an Energon node cradled against Airraid’s side. Ratbat Ratbat snuggled into the hold happily, listening to the rhythm of Soundwave's spark. It was going to be a while before he was completely recovered, and as such, he needed to take it easy. Avoid stress where he could, amongst other things. //~"Yes sir."~\\ Slowly shutting off systems, Ratbat began to engage his recharge programming and self-repair systems. They would be more efficient because of being in Soundwave's hold, but that did not matter to him. right now, nothing really mattered, as he was not paying much attention, instead allowing himself to be repaired. Airraid Air Raid "gasped" as the tendrils pulled out of him, and slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position before rolling onto his front. Through his bond, he could feel Fireflight's, as well as the others', panic. ~"What the slag was that all about?"~ He glanced up where Soundwave had flown too, then saw the Energon node. ~"Huh?"~ Now he was really confused. He'd heard that Soundwave was one of the most emotionless Decepticons out there. Instead, he'd broken off suddenly, left Air Raid online, and even provided an energy source, though the black jet wasn't sure if it was safe. {"Probably a good idea to mention this to Ratchet..."} Grabbing the node, he tucked it away in his sub space, then transformed and took off. Flying above the surface of Mars, Air Raid headed for where he'd dropped his rifle. After retrieving it, he took off, leaving Mars behind him, and heading for Earth as well, aiming for his brother's approximate location. Category:Finished Threads